Tanya is surprised to find herself outside the lecture hall. Seeing this person speak is foolish she tells herself, people might question why she's curious about the story of a metahuman working for some of the most lucrative companies in San Francisco. On the other hand, if she avoided it out of hand then she might draw just as much suspicion. She's always expressed an interest in advocacy which is why her professor suggested she attended the talk by the visitor.

There are a few other people here, and though Tanya keeps herself apart from them, she recognises a few other people from her advocacy class. One waves, and she smiles and waves back before bending her head to her phone as though suddenly distracted. At least she's not the only one from her group to come here. She begins to feel more confident about her situation as she glances sidelong down the corridor. A larger group of students is moving her way, clearly there are people here interested in the topic. Most likely because it is clear there will be a lot of money in metahuman law in the near future. Others perhaps because they are metahumans themselves.

She wonders just how many there are in the group. It's common knowledge that there are metahumans attending Stanford, though only one or two have come out publicly it would seem. They both have relatively harmless powers, one can generate bubbles at will, and has become something of a staple at any and all fraternity and sorority parties around campus. Her ability to be a one woman foam party was clearly much in demand. The other could levitate. Not fly, just hover a few inches above the ground. His is more of a gimmick than anything else.

Strangely though, Tanya cannot see either of them, she simply tags onto the back of the larger group as they enter the theatre, laughing and chatting. She's not stupid enough to choose a seat at the back, this is a big lecture hall, and the number of students that have shown up don't even fill it a quarter of the way. Instead Tanya chooses a seat about a third of the way up. She's nearby some people that she knows, not friends exactly, but not so much strangers that she can politely sit far away from them.

Producing a notebook and pen, she looks about the lecture hall once again. She's not sure what she's expecting. A Hero, someone lurking at the back with a hoodie pulled low over their face. It's not like this is a spy movie or anything, just a bunch of kids here to listen to a guest lecturer. Already she can see a dozen people on their phones, scrolling through Instagram, snapchatting each other, and generally looking like they've been dragged along purely through social pressure rather than because they are actually interested in the topic.

The lights dim a little as one of the professor's walks onto the stage. This is to be a talk, yes, but usually the professor's will ask a few pointed questions in order to ensure that their students get the best experience possible. She knows this one, professor Munoz, a short pot-bellied man with greying hair, teaches her advocacy class. He's a good instructor, if a little prone to tangents. His tall stories are humoured by the class because of the humour and energy with which he tells them, energy which is not lacking as he introduces their guest lecturer today. Amelia Herrera. Tanya sits up a little and does her best to look interested, but not too interested, readying her pen as the woman begins to speak. She's prepared to take notes as well, not that she'd need them, but it would be too obvious if she'd suddenly stopped making use of her ubiquitous notepad and pen.


Tag: Amelia Herrera

Tanya's elation drops somewhat as Quinton points out the obvious flaw in her plan. It could be that she has just absorbed everything that he has to offer. Her disappointment is obvious, and it's not just because she might have hit the same wall yet again in her attempt to control her powers. "Yeah... I guess I'll have to find another volunteer somehow."

It's not an endeavour she is particularly looking forwards to. It had taken this long to find one person she could try this out with. How long might it take to find another? There is always her sisters, but the thought fills her with reluctance, rather than excitement. Her relationship with her sisters has been strained for a while now, and not because of the strange abilities they all developed during the Event.

Her mother? No, if anything that is even worse. Anya has a checkered past and Tanya has wish to delve deeper into her mother's history and memories than she already has. The last time she accidentally made skin contact with her mom she'd nearly developed a craving for a drug she'd never even taken.

It takes a moment for her slightly aching head to process what Quinton has just said to her, or rather, what he has just asked her. She'd certainly thought about how attractive the rugged country boy was, but she had harboured only secret hopes that they would amount to anything. After all, she'd been resigned to being alone pretty much for the rest of her life. Had he just asked her out on a date even after she'd been rooting around inside his head for hours?

She instantly perks up. "Yeah!" She reigns her enthusiasm in a bit. "Yes. I guess that, like, could be fun."

Tag: Quinton Summers

"You're, like, the sweetest guy, you know that?"

Experimenting with her powers might not lead to any physical discomfort for Quinton, but even so his offer was extremely generous. Her powers will eventually lead to her absorbing just about everything that makes him... well... him. It won't take it away, but the guy would lose any illusion of privacy in a heartbeat. Maybe it was because he seemed so adorably disconnected from the social media of average life, he didn't have the concerns for privacy that other people might have.

"I don't... I feel like we should talk about what this really entails."

Holding her hand over his, Tanya sighs. It had seemed too good to be true. And maybe it is. Probably Quinton just hadn't understood what it was that he was dealing with. She could go ahead, after all, he will have no idea what she's doing with his memories, how much she's absorbed, he would be completely ignorant.

She can't.

"Look, it might end up being everything. And my power is weird, I might end up remembering more of it than you do. I'm gonna know every little lie you told, every person you've known and every dirty little secret hiding inside your head."

Tanya pulls her hand back a little, "There's no going back from this, once I have it... that's it. It's mine forever. Are you sure there's nothing there you don't want someone else to know? Cause if it's in there... I will. Like, are you sure there are no skeletons there you might be worried about?"

Her hand is still hovering over Quinton', perhaps a few inches from contact. She's absorbed a lot, an awful lot of his memories already. She can feel them finding their own place in her head, before long they'll be as much a part of her as they have ever been of him.

Tag: Quinton Summers

"I... Uh... I don't know..."

Tanya tries to recall something specific from her own memories, as they always have, they seem to spring up obediently on command. She'd always realised that this was some part of her power, but had been too ashamed of absorbing other people's to try the same thing. She widens her approach a little, again they begin to spring up, so fast that she can't keep track of them. It takes longer this time, but as she pushes for more her head starts to ache again.

She pushes them all away. "Yeah... I can... But trying to do too much really makes my head hurt."

The ache has already subsided, and she wonders if it's just a result of a lack of practice. After all, searching through her own memories seemed to be a lot easier, at least until she called on too much. "Maybe it's... Like... A practice thing?"

She focuses again on his memories, this time just thinking about ones from that morning. These would have been close to the surface, so a collection springs up almost instantly, accompanied by only a slight twinge in her temple. She can almost visualise them and she closes her eyes.

"It's kind of like... Like..."

She struggles to equate the experience to something Quinton might be familiar with. She's been in telepathic contact with her sister's before, and this is a little like that, but less... Alive.... Than that contact had been. This seems more responsive to her mental touch. They aren't images per say, more images made up of feelings.

"It's a bit like... Ummm.. Y'know when you look at old pictures in your feed? It kind of feels like that... Except they aren't really pictures..."

She reaches out one hand to swipe at the feelings, and feels like an idiot when absolutely nothing happens. She blushes as she looks at him again. "Sorry, thought I could swipe them like on my phone..."

"I guess you never really had to do much practise?"



Tag: Quinton Summers

The dorm is typical student fare, walls painted a cheap and inoffensive taupe, dark carpet littered with dried gum, and harsh white lighting in the corridors. On their way up the stairs they pass several other students, several of whom give Quinton a sideways look. There might be thousands of students at Stanford Law, but you notice when there is someone new in your dorm.

A few raise their eyebrows as well, they've seen Tanya about, but her breakup with her last boyfriend had been pretty spectacular, and a long time ago. Quinton would be the first boy anyone had seen Tanya taking up to her room since then. No doubt the gossip would be running wild tonight, if Nina hadn't already started it.

It's embarrassing, but Tanya focuses on the fact that keeping things in her room means she can control the situation more easily. It gives them privacy so if something does go wrong no one else will notice what's going on. She can't deny she's nervous as she opens the door and gestures to the two beds at the end of the room. "Make yourself comfortable."

She closes the door quietly behind the two of them, the faint click loud in the sudden silence. Staying at the door a moment, she doesn't turn around, taking the pause to breathe in deeply. Thoughts gathered she turns to face the room, and more importantly, Quinton.

He is good looking. With high, defined cheekbones, carelessly tousled hair and the kind of effortless physique that comes from manual labour rather than the gym. He's exactly the kind of guy she'd normally go for.

She pushes that thought aside as she crosses the room. There's a notebook open on her cluttered desk, the page equally cluttered with copious notes in different colours. She's spent most of the time since she met Quinton working out how she might experiment with her power and trying to avoid picturing his eyes.

Sitting down on the bed, she keeps her distance from Quinton at first, her hands clasped together before her. "I've not done this before, not even with my sisters. So it might take a while."

She glances up at him, tearing her eyes away equally as quickly. "I thought I could try controlling whether I absorb memories or not. That's the reason I've not done much experimentation yet, I can't seem to control whether I get people's memories or not."


Tag: Quinton Summers

"Yeah..."

Instinctively Tanya reaches out to comfort Quinton, stopping her hand dead when she realises she can't do that. It hovers awkwardly between them for a moment before she manages to pull it back. Old habits die hard, and she realises for what feels like the first time how badly she has missed human contact.

She tries to hide the flash of pain that flickers over her face. She hasn't consciously touched anyone since she realised what was triggering her power, everything has been accidental, a brush here, a bump there. She's even taken to wearing long sleeved clothes when she goes to see her mother to avoid the risk.

"Things seem to have gotten a lot more complicated in my life since I got powers. At least that's one thing all of those super hero movies seemed to get right, powers don't actually make anything easier, they just make everything more complicated."

Tanya stays leaning forward, she can't make physical contact, but that doesn't prevent her from being closer to Quinton. "Healing should have made your life on a farm, like, easier. Super memory should mean I could, like, just finish and graduate now."

Her voice catches a little. "I can barely even hug my mom anymore cause I'm afraid of what I might see."

Tag: Quinton Summers